Is it Poison Ivy or Virginia Creeper?

Is it Poison Ivy or Virginia Creeper? A very important question! If you don't know the answer you could end up with quarter-sized blisters that ooze, burn and itch, like these:

Poison Ivy blisters

 

 

Yikes! Nobody wants that, right? The two plants can appear to be similar at first glance, especially in the middle of summer when they are both growing like crazy. In fact, they do have a couple of similarities: both can be found as a vine climbing trees, etc., and both can appear as a small shrub or growing along the ground.
But there are three good ways to tell them apart.

The first way is by looking at the leaves. The Virginia Creeper has leaves in groups of five, with finely-toothed edges.  Poison Ivy leaves are in groups of three, with irregular teeth, and tend to be shiny.

Virginia Creeper

Poison Ivy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secondly, Virginia Creeper is held in place by small, branching tendrils, and Poison Ivy has a woody vine that looks like a hairy snake! The Poison Ivy vine is really visible in winter, when there are no leaves to hide it.

The third way to tell is in mid to late summer when the berries form. Virginia Creeper has a bluish-black berry that resembles a small grape. Poison Ivy has smaller, whitish berries that hang in clusters.

Both plants provide food for wildlife. Neither the leaves or berries of Poison Ivy seem to have any negative effects on animals. But humans need to stay away from the plant. It's not that difficult to tell them apart, just make sure you don't get too close while you're looking!

Adding layers

I am frequently asked "How is the mural coming along?" My usual answer is "It's coming right along". And it is. At a steady pace. A nice unfolding. A little each week. Here are some examples of the latest additions:

mama bear sketch

Completed mama bear

Mama bear was very fun to finish. Layers of thin color put on with choppy strokes gave her coat depth and made her look shaggy. I'm very pleased with the way she came out.

I had spent a few weeks over in the "bear corner", and even though there is still more work to be done there, like finishing the turtle and the possums, I felt like I needed to pull back and look at the bigger picture once again. So I moved over to the center portion of the wall, and started adding new stuff there.

Center wall

 You have already seen sketches of the raccoon, bobcat, domestic cat, copperhead snake and kingfisher. Now you can see them in relation to the landscape, with more trees and plants sketched in too. There is the outline of a  hickory tree in the foreground, which will be home to some songbirds and a native vine, a twiggy little dogwood tree, the skeleton of a cinnamon fern, and the cardinal plant, so named for it's bright red flowers, which will be added later. There are more plants and details to be added to this section, but it's starting to fill out nicely.

Probably the most important improvement is the addition of the layer of hills in the background. Right now they are just a wash of green, but already they make the foreground pop out.

I have never seen a beaver, but I've seen lots of evidence that they live here. It's amazing how quickly they can gnaw through a tree trunk. You can be hiking one day and there is a healthy tree, and the next day it's chomped almost all the way through! I keep thinking that someday I'll actually see the beaver. Sometimes the damage is so fresh looking I swear the beaver is hiding somewhere nearby laughing at me. But for now I guess I'm just happy that they are here, so I have included a couple of beaver-chewed stumps in the mural.

Beaver-chewed stumps

I'm not sure what's coming next, but I've been thinking about where I'm going to put the vulture I had to take out earlier. Maybe on the hill behind the stream. And I need to get all the hills sketched in more firmly before I start to define the trees more. Maybe I'll put in some turkeys, since Thanksgiving is coming. They aren't on the list but I have a great shot of some turkeys running up a hill. I keep telling myself that if I don't stop adding things to the mural that aren't on the list that I'm going to run out of time and space. But there is still plenty of time, and nothing is looking crowded or forced yet, so I'll just keep going!